As we're conditioned to watch mainly Hollywood productions, last night I saw this Russian fantasy-drama and am deeply disappointed. Of course it's refreshment to explore other cultures and see something else but Hollywood movies once in a while. Fight scenes were fine (could've been done better), minimal FX fine as well, but the storyline itself really sucked... badly! Take what some might know as ancient Slavic masked "Koledari" tradition. To begin with, Koledari were not "king's band" to play music and have a fun whenever the occasion (like in the movie). In stead, it used to be one-day-a-year tradition which would be equivalent to what we today know as Xmas. Furthermore, they portrayed worshipers of Veles as (11th century) primitive tribes, living literally in trees. Not to mention the fact that around that time Christianity was well established, and so was statehood. To give you an idea, Serbia (also Slavic nation) around that time already had fully functional state, and 100 years later also an Empire (ruled by a tsar) stretching out from the Adriatic Sea, all the way to Black Sea at east and Mediterranean in south... Then how could Russians live in trees? Obviously, there was no serious research done here at all. In short, the creators of The Scythian proved they know nothing about these things. A such waste of time and money. Total fiasco.
Review of The Scythian
